Death of Darren Ng Wei Jie


On 30 October 2010, 19-year-old Darren Ng Wei Jie, a student from Republic Polytechnic, was brutally slashed by a total of 12 youths from a rival gang after a staring incident between one of Darren's friends and one of these youths attacking him. Darren suffered from a total of 28 knife wounds and he died in Changi General Hospital five hours after the incident. The case was classified as murder, and the police managed to arrest all the suspects. Six of them were charged with murder, but all except one were later sentenced to serve lengthy jail terms with caning for culpable homicide, while the others were dealt with varied jail terms and caning for rioting.

The crime

On 30 October 2010, a previous conflict between the leaders of two rival gangs, 21-year-old Dickson Ng Teck Seng and 18-year-old Stilwell Ong Keat Pin, led to the two deciding to meet at Downtown East for a 1-1 fight. Ong brought along 11 other youths to meet up with Dickson Ng and armed themselves with knives and other weapons; however, the gang leader did not show up. Instead, a few of Dickson Ng's fellow gang members showed up. One of them was 19-year-old Republic Polytechnic student Darren Ng Wei Jie. One of them had a tense conversation with Ong, and somehow, at some point, one of Darren's friends was involved in a staring incident with one of Ong's friends. This escalated the situation when Ong brandished a chilli sauce bottle but accidentally dropped it. Darren perceived it as a hostile move and whipped out a baton for self-defence. It only made matters worse and Ong and his gang, out of agitation, made their attack on Darren and his friends.
Outnumbered, Darren and his friends fled the scene and Ong's gang gave chase, passing by many witnesses and some crowded shops in Downtown East Mall. One of the youths among those running away was seen falling down outside Popeyes, a fast food restaurant, but another helped him up and continued to run. After running some distance, Darren accidentally crashed into a glass door outside Sakura International Buffet Restaurant and before he could recover, Ong's gang caught up and together, they used screwdrivers, choppers and knives to callously slash and hack at Darren, right in front of many witnesses, who were horrified at the violence presented in front of them. After they ended their attack, the gang left, leaving Darren in a pool of blood outside Sakura, with a total of 28 slash wounds on his body, mostly at his left limbs and below his right rib cage. One of Darren's friends returned to tend his injured friend while an ambulance was contacted; Darren was soon brought to Changi General Hospital for immediate treatment, accompanied by his friend. Five hours after the incident, Darren Ng, the only son of his family and the youngest of two children, was pronounced dead at about 10.55 pm on the night of 30 October 2010.

Arrests and charges

After the incident, the police first arrested four of the youths involved; one of them resisted arrest and while making his escape, he accidentally suffered from a head injury and had to be hospitalised. Three of these arrested youths - Tang Jia Min, 21; Ho Wui Ming, 20; and Chen Wei Zhen, 19 - were charged with murder. The fourth youth who resisted arrest and was hospitalised, 18-year-old Edward Tay Wei Loong, was placed under arrest in the hospital and charged with murder. The other eight youths were also eventually arrested and charged - two with murder and six with rioting - for their part in the attack on Darren Ng. Stilwell Ong was one of those two people facing the murder charge, the other was 16-year-old Louis Tong Qing Yao, a bespectacled secondary school student who also faced charges of loanshark harassment. Tang Jia Min, one of those youths charged with murder, eventually had his charge reduced to rioting, while the other five accused of murder, identified to be the main attackers of Darren, still had their charges of murder against them. As the offence of murder under Singapore law warrants a mandatory death sentence, if they were found guilty, these people, except for 16-year-old Louis Tong, will be sentenced to death. Should he be found guilty and convicted of murder, Louis Tong will instead be sentenced to life imprisonment, since he was under 18 years old at the time of the crime and thus he cannot be hanged.

Sentences of those charged with rioting

The first gang member to be sentenced was 19-year-old Jason Chew Wei Beng. He was brought to court nearly a year and a half after the incident, where he pleaded guilty to rioting, and another offence of causing hurt to a 20-year-old man at Bishan Bus Interchange in April 2010. On 7 March 2012, Chew was sentenced to 4 years' imprisonment, and given 6 strokes of the cane. Two months later, Chew's fellow gang member Puay De Feng was sentenced to a total of 5 years' imprisonment after pleading guilty to rioting and an unrelated crime of voluntarily causing hurt to a Korean national named Yoon Sang-jun at St James Power Station, in which his sentences are ordered to run consecutively. Puay, who was 19 at the time of the Downtown East incident, was also given 6 strokes of the cane.
On 19 July 2012, four more youths were convicted of rioting and sentenced on the same date. Tang Jia Min, who initially faced a murder charge like the five main culprits, received the heaviest sentence of 6 years and 3 months' imprisonment and 6 strokes of the cane for playing a more instrumental role in the crime. 19-year-old Ho Wei Quan was sentenced to 5 years' imprisonment and 6 strokes of the cane. 22-year-old Lewis Wee Jun Jie was sentenced to 4 years and 10 months' imprisonment and 6 strokes of the cane. 20-year-old Chong Rui Hong received the lightest sentence out of the four - 4 years' imprisonment and 3 strokes of the cane.
On 24 September 2012, the seventh youth Ng Wei Lun, aged 20, was sentenced to 3 years and 3 months' imprisonment and 3 strokes of the cane, a sentence comparatively lighter than that of Chong Rui Hong. Ng Wei Lun was the last gang member to be dealt with after all his friends, as his date of sentencing was more than two weeks after the sentencing of the five main culprits for their major roles in the death of Darren Ng Wei Jie.

The trial of the five main culprits

Eventually, on 30 July 2012, the five youths - Stilwell Ong Keat Pin, Chen Wei Zhen, Ho Wui Ming, Louis Tong Qing Yao, and Edward Tay Wei Loong - saw their charges reduced to a lesser charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder. All five youths, who were represented by veteran lawyer Subhas Anandan, pleaded guilty to the reduced charges as they stood trial before Justice Tay Yong Kwang of the High Court. Additionally, Tong admitted to a few charges of loanshark harassment and Ho also submitted a plea of guilty to two unrelated charges of theft and mischief. The mitigation and sentencing was postponed due to Subhas having to go on medical leave in midst of the closing submissions due to poor health. In their closing submissions, the prosecution had urged for a sentence of at least 15 years' imprisonment and 12 strokes of the cane for Ong, who was not the oldest but the leader of the gang and mastermind of the attack on Darren Ng. The prosecution also asked for a sentence of between 12 to 15 years' imprisonment and 10 strokes of the cane each for the other four.
In mitigation, Subhas Anandan argued that the courts should show some leniency to the boys in view of their young age and give them a chance of rehabilation. He acknowledged that the boys deserved whatever consequences they have to face for such a heinous and violent act, given that a life had been lost as a result. However, he argued that the tragedy will only be augmented if young offenders like the five young defendants were being sentenced to long periods of imprisonment behind bars, which will also destroy their lives like how Darren's life had been destroyed by the boys themselves, and doing so will not be able to bring back the life that has already been lost.
On 8 September 2012, nearly two years after the unfortunate death of 19-year-old Darren Ng, it was time for his killers to face the music. For using a chopper to slash the victim, Stilwell Ong was sentenced to 12 years' imprisonment and 12 strokes of the cane, the heaviest sentence meted out among the five. Ho Wui Ming, who used a screwdriver to cause hurt to Darren, was sentenced to a total of 11 years and 3 months' imprisonment with 10 strokes of the cane. Both Chen Wei Zhen and Edward Tay each received a sentence of 10 years' imprisonment and 10 strokes of the cane for using a fruit knife and chopper respectively. As for Louis Tong, who was armed with a fruit knife at the time of the attack, he was sentenced to 8 years' imprisonment and 11 strokes of the cane for the crimes he committed.
During sentencing, Justice Tay reportedly said that it was as heartbreaking for the court as it must have been for the parents watching the proceedings. He said in court as he passed the sentences on the five youths, "I can only implore especially on behalf of all parents, young persons in secret societies and street gangs to open their eyes to the tragic truth that violence begets violence and vicious acts only breed more vicious reactions." The five youths decided to not appeal against their sentences.

Aftermath

Given the fact that the incident occurred in a Saturday evening, in front of a large crowd consisting of people of all ages, the feelings of the public had run high and the pro-death penalty advocates voiced out for the hanging of the main culprits for their part in the murder of the young student. This fact had also reinforced the blatant disregard the offenders had for the law. The government had also stepped in to implement guidance programmes to reach out for those at-risk young people and teenagers who were vulnerable to joining gangs.
On 3 November 2010, Darren Ng's funeral was held. It was attended by hundreds of family members and friends, which included Darren's parents and elder sister. In addition, Darren's friends from the secret society gang also attended the funeral. When seeing reporters at the scene, some of them turned aggressive and confronted them for not giving any peace to Darren's bereaved family, threatening them with fists, covering their cameras or raising their voices, which disruted the originally peaceful and quiet funeral.
Slowly, the struggle and pain of losing their son and brother began to heal as time passed by. Darren's father Francis Ng and mother, only known as Mdm Tan, began to slowly open up to Darren's friends from the gang, with whom they were originally angry at and partially blamed for their son's death. After they opened up and shared their grief, they began to slowly understand Darren's friends and stopped their judgemental attitude towards these delinquent youths. As for Darren's friends, they began to regard Darren's parents as their godparents, as to them, the couple gave them the parental attention they craved, and was willing to listen to their thoughts, which they did not share with even their own parents.
After moving into a new apartment, Darren's family converted a room, originally meant for Darren before his untimely death, into an entertainment centre for Darren's friends to gather and enjoy some activities. They also occasionally give advice to, or bring these young people out for meals or a movie. Gradually, from seven of Darren's friends, the group eventually consisted of more than 30 troubled youths, including the friends of Darren's acquaintances. Some were from broken families, while others are from good families, but they got along very well. One of Darren's close friends, who asked not to be named, reportedly said, "They filled the need for us to be loved and be cared for. They are very generous and kind. Godpa even paid for a degree course for one of my friends." Darren's death also became a wake-up call for some of the youths especially, "It could have happened to me or any one of my friends," said another unnamed youth. "I saw how his family struggled with the crisis. Me and the other boys, we tried our best to be with Godma. She sees Darren in us. That really allowed the beginning of the healing process."
As for the 12 youths who attacked Darren at Downtown East, one of these youths, Chong Rui Hong, whose 4-year imprisonment sentence was backdated to the time of his remand in November 2010, was released in July 2013 after serving at least two-thirds of his sentence due to good behaviour. Chong, who was 18 at the time of the incident, and now working as a popcorn seller, told the newspaper The Sunday Times in a phone interview in February 2014 that he was determined to start his life afresh. The incident made him reflect on his past while in prison and he decided to strive for a future he wanted for himself. Chong was also studying part-time and planning to apply for retaking his GCE O-levels and get into a polytechnic for a brighter future.
Another of these youths, Ng Wei Lun, who joined the gang at age 14 and was given a jail term of 3 years and 3 months with 3 strokes of the cane for rioting, stated that he felt remorse over the death of Darren Ng, regretting his decision to follow his gang into Downtown East that fateful day and making his single father disappointed in him. Ng, who was on bail when he was interviewed by the paper before he started to serve his sentence, stated that seeing his father coping with his foolish acts, he could feel the pain Darren's parents felt at the loss of their son, which made him realsing his father's suffering. He even tried to do some housework to lighten his father's burden while spending his last days of freedom before serving his sentence. Ng's girlfriend, Shermin Sim, noted her boyfriend's change in behaviour and him increasingly caring over his family.
In early 2020, the mastermind of the attack and gang leader, Stilwell Ong, then 28 years old, once again had run afoul with the law, this time on a charge of cheating by impersonation, which he committed on 11 October 2019, when he allegedly impersonated someone else in order to have a car delivered to him. He also faced charges of traffic and drug-related offences. He is out on $10,000 bail as of March 2020. If convicted of cheating by impersonation, Ong will be sentenced to a term of imprisonment up to five years or a fine or both.